Walker to Dems: Now that I've totally dissed you, can't we all just get along?

Gov. Scott Walker says he's reaching out to Democrats, now that he's already trampled on their rights and any hopes for participation in the state budget process. Gee, thanks a lot.

Walker's office tells WisPolitics.com he has reached out to more than 100 legislators to schedule meetings and talk about legislative priorities for the fall. He's even met with two Dems, State Reps. Penny Bernard Schaber and Gordon Hintz, and has meetings scheduled with four more Dems. Wow! (No word on whether the Dems wore their orange T-shirts or said "Shame!" in their meetings.)

There's a simple explanation. Until now the GOP has had total control of state government and has been quite content to just ram things down the throats of the Dem minority. But recalls loom, and if Dems take back the State Senate, which seems likely, Walker won't be able to get anything done without Dem buy-in. (Should have thought of this sooner.)

UPDATE: Maybe Walker wanted to tell them about their new districts, since the Dems have been shut out of the process and haven't seen the maps.

Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, has criticized the effort because of Walker's refusal to talk with Dem leggies during the collective bargaining debate, and has invited Walker to join him at a town meeting at Marquette Elementary School in the heart of liberal turf in Madison. Fat chance.

While he pretends to reach across the aisle, here's the latest example of Walker's administration ignoring the Democratic minority. It's from the weekly newsletter of State Sen. Chris Larson:

In January, I heeded the call of Governor Walker and stepped forward to serve on the Waste, Fraud and Abuse Commission, with the hope that together we could work on "best practices" and see where we could save valuable tax dollars.

I was surprised to see that an interim report was recently released by the chair of the Waste, Fraud and Abuse Commission on behalf of the commission last Friday.

My Democratic colleague, Rep. Mark Pocan, and I, as members of the Waste, Fraud and Abuse Commission, were completely excluded from the drafting of the commission report. The commission was scheduled to discuss ideas for a report in July, but instead a report was issued without bipartisan input and review.

I am concerned that the integrity of this commission, which was created to have members work together to investigate waste, fraud and abuse in our government, is now in question. Releasing a report to the media without member input gives the impression that the commission is really a means for Governor Walker's administration to pursue an ideological agenda and pass it off as the work of a bipartisan commission. [Ya think? - Xoff]

Rep. Pocan and I delivered a letter to Governor Walker earlier this week requesting that he uphold the mission of the commission to work in a bipartisan fashion on reducing waste, fraud and abuse, rather than continue using the commission as a political tool to further divide Wisconsin and promote his political agenda.

I believe that we must make government as efficient as possible and I remain steadfastly committed to real bipartisan reforms.